Great Love and Not So Great Plans
by jamesluver4ever
Summary: Watch the love of James and Lily unfold as their friends plot and plan to bring them together and to keep them apart. Reviews appreciated!
1. Best Friends Forever

The blood was surging to her head from the unbearable heat. The sun was glaring into her eyes and no matter how much she squinted, it was completely inescapable. She supposed that this was better than being in the Great Hall, where her class has just completed the OWLs. She walked over to the glistening lake, where some of her friends had already plopped down.

Two girls sat by the lake, on a forest green cotton blanket that almost disappeared in the rich summer grass. One girl faced the lake; her rich blue eyes squinted against the afternoon sun. A heavy book of some sort was held loosely in her lap, although it seemed that she had no intention of looking down at it. She had long flowing dark brown, almost black, hair that fell well below her shoulders. It was mostly straight but near the ends, they naturally formed into ringlets. She twisted her finger around one of those ringlets as she finally turned away from the sun to look at her friend approaching them.

"Lily. Finally," she said, looking at the tall girl, with voluminous auburn hair and cat-like green eyes that sat down on the edge of the blanket. The dark-haired girl turned back the lake. "Couldn't tear yourself away from the exams, could you?" she said to the open air.

Lily sighed. "That's right, Madison," she answered, almost patronizingly, "You know how I am."

Madison, the dark-haired girl, did not turn around but continued to stare at the hypnotic waves of the lake. The second girl that was sitting at the blanket looked up from the periodical that she had been intently reading. She smiled kindly at Lily.

"Lil, you have to stop worrying about the exams. I can tell you are, so relax!"

Lily gave a tight smile and nodded, almost imperceptibly.

"Of course, Blair."

Blair and Madison were twins, but there was a world of differences between the two sisters. The most apparent one was their physical appearance. Blair had wispy blond, almost white, hair. Her crystal blue eyes gave her an ethereal appearance.

Blair and Madison came from a quite affluent family. The Carltons were no joke. They had power in both the Muggle and Wizarding communities since they held government positions and they had money and great connections. However, unlike most fortunate children, Blair and Madison were innocently unaware of their true power – although Madison seemed somewhat more conscious of it than Blair.

Blair stood up from the blanket. "Here, take my place, I'm going to go to the common room for a moment. I think I left my bag in there. I'll just cry if it's lost."

Lily nodded. She would've cried too if she had lost a Prada bag. She sat down in Blair's spot, and as she did, Madison turned to her.

"James was talking about you earlier," she said slowly, not looking Lily in the eye.

Lily picked up the periodical that Blair had left behind. "Hmm, '56 ways to get his attention,'" she read off of the cover.

Madison narrowed her eyes, "I'm trying to talk to you. It's important. James is _my_ boyfriend and he keeps bringing up _your_ name."

Lily flinched inwardly at the way she and emphasized "my boyfriend" and "your name." She pretended to have taken great interest in a makeover article in the magazine, and didn't look up. "Madison, that is, in no way, my problem. I don't like James."

Madison continued to glare at her. "I never said anything about you liking him. I just said he mentioned your name."

Lily shrugged and after a slight pause, she asked, "And pray tell, what was he saying?"

"It doesn't matter," snapped Madison, looking incredible annoyed. "Just stay away from him."

Lily let out an exasperated sigh. "I don't seek him out. We're on the Quidditch team together. We're both the Heads of Gryffindor. We're in all the same classes. He's virtually unavoidable."

Madison was not buying it. She pressed on, "And he's always looking at you. He's looking and he's talking. I don't like it."

"I don't know what to tell you," Lily said, in a manner that can only be best described as annoyed. However, in Lily's eyes, she felt that she had every right to be more than annoyed. She reassured Madison over and over again that nothing was going on between she and James – and that nothing possibly could – but Madison simply refused to believe it. Lily missed the days that she and Madison were best friends – something that was wearing away since Madison started going out with James.

Girls always went haywire before, after, and during a relationship with James Potter. They could not completely accounted for their foolish actions since it did appear to be a mass pandemic. James was a tall Quidditch player with magnetic blue eyes and a shock of deep brown, messy hair. And he wasn't exactly poor. This all seemed reason enough for most girls to throw themselves in his whirling path of destruction, but not Lily. Of course, Madison, under the spell of James could not believe her – Lily was trying to break them up and she just couldn't allow it - she and James were meant for each other and they were going to be together forever – after all, they had been going out for an entire week.

Madison stood up suddenly, as though she could not bear Lily's presence for one more second.

"I have to go…look for Blair's bag. It was Prada," she said lamely, "very expensive."

Lily nodded, flinching inwardly. James's whirling path of destruction was having quite an impact. One week into the relationship and already, Madison hated her. She wanted to fix it and say something that would make it all go away, but for now, she was just glad Madison made up an excuse to leave. She watched as her friend walked away and finally disappeared into the halls of the castle. She breathed a sigh – this time of relief.

However, her peaceful state did not last long. She had not been sitting there for five minutes before she was interrupted, by no other than James Potter.

"God, James, what do you want?" she said irritably.

James hesitated for a moment. Instead of responding with the usual "you" which always seemed to call for a violent response on the part of Lily, he decided respond in a manner that wouldn't completely offend Lily – it was difficult abstaining; she just made it so easy.

"Yeah. Where's Madison?"

Lily squinted up at him. He was towering over her, just because she was sitting down. The sun was directly behind his head which gave a halo-like light around his head. She bit her lip to refrain from laughing at the ridiculousness.

"She went inside. Probably to the Gryffindor tower," she paused before adding, "At least that's what she told me."

James ran his hand through his hair, pausing with a tuft in his hand and looking after the path that Madison just took to the castle. He seemed distracted.

"Uh. Later then."

Lily could not help but stare after him. He was actually not paying attention her – something that had seemed impossible only a week ago. Maybe Madison didn't have much to worry about after all.


	2. Thin Line Between Love and Hate

**Thin Line Between Love and Hate**

Lily woke up the next morning with her head spinning and a sick feeling in her stomach. The celebration about the end of finals last night had not been kind on her brain cells. She made a quick mental note to stay away from fire whiskey in the future. Her bones ached and her head was pounding and throbbing. She'd thank her stars if she could make it out the door. She stumbled out of bed and with her eyes still closed; she reached into her trunk to pull out something that hopefully resembles an outfit.

As she walked out into the common room, the sun, yet again, was glaring painfully into her eyes. With that and the headache, she wished that she hadn't woken up at all. Through her barely open eyes, she spotted James and Madison curled up comfortably together on the couch. "God," she thought, "just what I need right now."

"Liiiiily, dah-ling," Madison purred happily.

Lily looked to and fro James. What on earth was Madison on?

"Maddie," she ventured carefully, "Are you all right?"

"I'm absooolutely spiffffy, dah-ling," Madison answered, contently blowing air into James's ears – at which he was wincing.

"Potter, what is wrong with her?" demanded Lily.

"Well," James began slowly, measuring his words as carefully as he could, "She's a bit drunk."

"A bit?" Lily managed to stammer out. It was almost noon. Noon just isn't an acceptable hour to be drunk. Sure, there were celebrations the night before but to be actually drunk until noon the next day was just insane.

James nodded, looking mildly concerned.

"A bit?" she repeated lamely. She laughed softly and hid her face behind her hands before slowly looking up again. "James," she began, "you are the most horrible…person…that I have ever had the misfortune to encounter."

James stammered for words. "What?" he said blankly.

"How could you _dare_ to get her drunk like this?" Lily looked at her friend, her face full of concern and anger. "She is piss drunk, and you are just standing idly by? How on earth did she get that drunk? Especially at this time of day! You are taking advantage of her! You're horrible – despicable."

James stared at her for moment before beginning angrily, "First of all, I told her not to drink. She chose this herself. Secondly, I'm trying to help her, not take advantage."

Lily rolled her eyes. "Sure. Just go away." She went to her friend who had been watching the exchange with a somber, pouty face. She frowned when Lily came close to her and wiggled out of Lily's reach when Lily came closer to try to get her back up to the dormitory.

Madison giggled. "James, dah-ling, make Lily go away."

James, who had had been watching Lily's futile efforts, nodded solemnly and turned to Lily. "You heard her. She wants me to stay," he said as gently as he could.

"Fine," Lily retorted. She grabbed her messenger bag that had been resting on a nearby table and walked, somewhat huffily, out of the common room. If Madison chose to be stupid, there was nothing she could do. Besides, she was not going to let an event like this ruin the moment for her – finals are over! She still had a creeping, annoying feeling that she should be studying for something. Now, on top of that, she had to worry about Madison and her disastrous involvement with James Potter. This was not what she pictured for the week after the OWLs.

Nonetheless, she would have to try her best to enjoy herself. She joined the other Gryffindors in the Great Hall for a late breakfast. She caught sight of Blair's pale blonde hair and decided to join her. Blair smiled warmly at her as she sat down.

"Had quite a night, Lils?"

Lily laughed. "You could say that. I was a bit wasted actually, last night that is." She paused before she went on. She did not know if Blair was aware of Madison's condition and Blair tended to take things like these a bit hardly. "Actually, I guess I wasn't the only one partying a bit."

Blair giggled. "I know. The whole school is a bit hung over. I swear I saw McGonagall stumbling down with a bottle last night and then, this morning, she had an ice pack on her head."

Lily smiled weakly, trying to imagine their very proper and serious teacher in a situation like that. "Huh. Well that's quite something, isn't it? Um, have you seen Madison this morning?"

Blair grinned. "No, I haven't. I think she pulled an all-nighter with James – oh I'm sorry, I probably shouldn't have mentioned that – I mean…" She trailed off, looking a little worried now.

"Blair, you can talk about Potter in front of me. I mean, I do hate him but still."

Blair looked uncomfortable. "Really? You don't like Potter? Madison said-"

"Madison doesn't know," Lily cut in, "I honestly truly do not like James Potter in any way. In fact, I kind of hate him." She repeated the last part as though she was divulging a new secret – not a clear fact...that she stated not two seconds earlier.

Blair nodded. "Okay. But, you know, it's a fine line between love and hate."

Lily almost snorted in her cereal. "I don't think so. We've got to keep you away from those teen advice columns. Don't worry, I clearly hate him. No gray area here."

"If you say so." Blair shrugged.

Lily nodded fervently. "Back to what I was saying, Madison was quite wasted this morning."

"Lily," Blair said soothingly, "Everyone was wasted this morning."

"No," Lily shook her head, "She was actually drunk, not just hungover. I mean, she's actually drunk now. It's like, noon," and she added pointedly, "And James is with her."

Blair frowned, looking a little worried now. "Well, I suppose that's okay. I mean, they're old enough to make decisions for themselves. If Madison wants to drink and be with her boyfriend, it's alright with me."

Lily shrugged. "Well, I thought that you should know. I was kind of worried there for a moment. But, if you're not worried, then I'm not worried. She's in good hands." Lily laughed inwardly at the last comment.

Blair nodded. "I think so. James has matured so much since they've starting seeing each other. He's not as erratic, I think. He's calmed down so much and he actually goes to most of his classes. Going out with Madison has been so good for him. I bet they're meant to be!" Blair ended somewhat giddily.

Lily felt heat rising to her cheeks. That was ridiculous – James and Madison could not be "meant to be." It was simply impossible. Madison was just another girl in James's path of destruction – wasn't she? Lily had been pretty sure until now that she was the only one James would love forever and that she could torture him with the fact that they would never be. Could it be that James was actually over her?

Lily felt cold and she didn't know why. She excused herself from the table and walked out into the grounds, not knowing what she was looking for.

James Potter sighed as he watched his girlfriend amuse herself with dancing flames in the fireplace. He didn't know how much longer he could keep up this ruse. If it didn't work, he would just have to kill Sirius. Or, at least yell at him for a bit. Sirius always has these brilliant ideas. Moony had warned him against it though. James cursed inwardly. He should've listened to Moony, like a sane person. This had become all too complicated. She would hate him by the end of this.

As he was losing himself in his thoughts, Blair burst in through the portrait door. She smiled at him and then looked over to her sister, her smile fading slowly.

"Oh my. She is quite drunk, isn't she?" she said, biting her lip and wringing her hands.

"She is," James answered shortly, getting up from the couch and heading towards the boys' dormitory. "Take care of her, will you? I have to get some sleep. I was up all night."

Blair nodded but frowned slightly at the last comment. Of course, James did not see it since he was already past the door of the boys' dormitory.

The light inside was dim since the curtains were still closed. There was soft snoring from Sirius's bed. James walked over and nudged his friend's shoulder.

"Wake up."

"Five…more…" mumbled Sirius, barely coherent.

James nudged harder and said sharply, "Wake up."

Sirius blinked weakly. "Prongs. Why?" he almost whined.

"Because your plan is not going to work," James said, through his teeth.

Sirius sat up quickly. "What do ya mean?"

"Exactly what I said. She's going to hate me."

Sirius frowned. "Not if I can help it."

Lily sighed. She was walking along the banks of the lake. It was deserted now, since most people were inside the Great Hall, enjoying breakfast or lunch. Lily felt heavy inside. This year was not going according to plan. She wasn't supposed to being fighting with her best friend and her best friend wasn't supposed to be going out with James Potter, and more importantly, Lily wasn't supposed to care that she was going out with James Potter. She walked around the lake, her mind swimming with blurry thoughts she couldn't hold on to.


End file.
